Emmanuel de Aranda

Aranda was a descendant of a family that came from Valladolid in Spain and had settled in Bruges for several generations.[1] They were mainly active in the textile industry and were of distinguished ranks in Spain. Emmanuel's father, Don Francisco, was a consular. His mother was Anne Van Severen. His oldest brother, Franciscus, married Isabelle Cloribus, had moved to Bruges and became the mayor.

After completing his law studies at the University of Leuven, Aranda was ready to step into the family business. In preparation, he made a trip to Spain. He left in 1639 and was joined by Renier Saldens (a doctor from Oostkamp), the Bruges junior Jan Baptiste Van Caloen and knight Philips de Cerf (or Ducherf, lord of Hondschoote and Leystrate, who later became mayor of Veurne).

The next year, the group returned to County of Flanders. They settled in San Sebastián on an English merchant ship that was hijacked off the coast of Brittany on August 22, 1640, by Barbary pirates under the command of an English turncoat. One day earlier, Aranda's ship was chased by a suspicious caravel, but the naive captain did not try to get away. The carload was supported by two larger ships, which hoisted the Algiers silver green flag of Algeria. The crew of the merchant ship were captured without a fight and taken to a nearby port.

Aranda was taken as a slave to Algeria and was sold there as a slave. He stayed there for a little more than a year (1640-1641) while his exchange was negotiated and could return to Duchy of Brabant in 1642.[2]

In Algeria captives were led to the palace of the Pasha, who was able to claim one eighth of the prisoners brought in. Aranda and his other companions were sold at the slave market (also known as zoco or bedesten). Grand Admiral Ali Pegelin paid 200 stakes for Aranda.

The frail Arando had to do heavy labor in a flour warehouse. He later described how he almost collapsed. He then became a construction worker at Pegelin's country house and later a house servant.

Negotiations for ransom were complicated because prisoners did not want to show that they were rich and had given false names. Finally, Arando and Caldo, his companion, were exchanged against five Muslims who were detained in Flanders. They were released to pick up the Algerians in Dunkirk. He brought them to Ceuta. After an eventful sea voyage, Aranda and Caldo arrived in Tétouan, where they had some memorable moments in the 'matemoren' (overcrowded underground slave dungeons). They could travel on to Ceuta, where the exchange took place and they were received by Spanish Governor Miranda. On March 24, 1642, Aranda made the crossing to Gibraltar from where he traveled by land to Rouen. There, he embarked to Dover, from there to Dunkirk and so on by land until he reached his hometown on August 20, 1642.

Thanks to Francisco de Valcarcel y Velasquez, Aranda was able to work as a military auditor for the quarterly of West Flanders. On December 26, 1644, he married the 18-year-old Catharina van Hauweghem in the Saint Michael's Church in Ghent. They had fourteen children.

He published a report of his experience as Relation de la captivité, et liberté du Sieur Emanuel de Aranda. Later, a didactico-burlesque poetry followed about the seven deadly sins (1679), which was written in the style of Adriaan Poirters.

In the last weeks of his life, he wrote another work about the Bruges of his time, but he did not get a chance to publish it.[3]